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Brazen Claws
The Brazen Claws is a Loyalist Second Founding Successor Chapter of the Iron Hands Legion. Unyielding and remorseless, the Brazen Claws are noted for their stoicism in the face of adversity and their grim determination to succeed. Since their creation during the Second Founding, they have amassed a string of glories and triumphs. Their homeworld was destroyed long ago by a tide of daemons that tore the planet apart and left the Brazen Claws as a fleet-based Chapter. The Chapter recently emerged from an ill-conceived, twenty-year-long Crusade of Vengeance in the Eye of Terror against the Traitor Legions and other Forces of Chaos. Some portions of the Chapter were corrupted during that struggle, though the majority of its Battle-Brothers remain free of Chaos taint. Chapter History Space Marine.]] The Brazen Claws can trace their heritage back to the bygone era of the Great Crusade and the dark days of the Horus Heresy. They were once members of the Iron Hands' 34th Clan Company of Clan Morragul, "the Brazen Claws." The Clan Company was garrisoned on the Knight World of Fabris Callivant in payment of a debt owed by the X Legion to House Callivant. As a result they were largely spared the casualties incurred by the rest of their Legion at the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V. Following the end of the Horus Heresy and the subsequent Great Scouring, the Brazen Claws were created during the Second Founding in 021.M31 from the Astartes of the 34th Clan Company. Brother Phastyne, 2nd Company, 2nd Squad (battleline). The colour of the chest device denotes company.]] Being the scions of Ferrus Manus, the Brazen Claws are an unassailable and resolute Chapter of Space Marines. Once engaged in combat, the Brazen Claws never yield, fighting on without pity or remorse for either the enemy, or their own losses. For ten millennia, the Brazen Claws amassed a long and glorious history combating those that would threaten the Imperium of Man. But soon, the Chapter's own tale of woe would fall upon them like a dark shadow. In the latter half of the 41st Millennium, the Brazen Claws' homeworld of Talus IV was destroyed by a bloodthirsty horde of daemons and the Chapter was forced to flee the planet as it fell to Chaos. Ever since, they have embarked on an Imperial Crusade of bitter vengeance against Renegade strongholds and Chaos-tainted worlds surrounding, and even within, the Eye of Terror. Little record of the actions or whereabouts of the Brazen Claws since they launched this Crusade exist within the Imperium's archives, but Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed of Cadia insisted that they had been sighted on numerous battlefields around the Fortress Worlds of the Cadian Gate during the 13st Black Crusade in 999.M41, fighting against the Forces of Chaos led by Abaddon the Despoiler. Elements of the Chapter appeared in force to take the fight to their hated enemy on every possible occasion. It was in that capacity that a great portion of the Brazen Claws' strength responded to the distress calls from Cadia during that world's last days. Tragically, the majority of the Chapter arrived too late to participate in the conflict, instead diverting to the worlds around the Cadian Gate. There they rode out the cataclysmic opening of the Great Rift and lent their might to the defence of such planets as Gudrun and Thracian Primaris. Notable Campaigns *'The Martyred Sons (416.M37)' - Inquisitor Lord Antonius Coil of the Ordo Malleus discovered the current location of the nomadic Hell-Forge of Sarum while conducting an Exterminatus action against the Warp-tainted Hive World of Goleonda IX, and moved to see it destroyed at last. Along with warships committed from Battlefleet Reductus and several Militarum Tempestus regiments, he mobilised the aid of three Space Marine Chapters, the Sons of the Raven, Celestial Guard and the Brazen Claws, to strike deep into the perilous Golgotha Wastes against this nightmarish thorn in the Imperium's side. Within sight of the baleful world, the Imperial fleet was ambushed on all sides by the pale warships of the Renegade Warp Ghosts and corrupted Black Wings Chaos Space Marines and the horrific Daemon Engines of their Dark Mechanicum allies of Sarum. In the brutal seventeen-solar-hour void battle that followed, the Imperial fleet was encircled and slowly torn to pieces both from without and from within as daemons ripped open passages into realspace deep onboard the stalwart vessels. Only the Chapter fleet of the Brazen Claws broke free from the trap without crippling losses, while the human contingent of the Imperium's strike forces were annihilated to the last. The ravaged Celestial Guard Chapter took nearly a standard century to rebuild its grievous losses from its stores of gene-seed, swearing bitter vengeance against the Warp Ghosts. The fleet-based Sons of the Raven Chapter, not one of whose Battle-Brothers escaped the deadly trap, were declared martyred and the great Bell of Lost Souls in the Tower of Heroes on Terra tolled to mourn their passing. Eighteen standard years later, a corrupted Warspite-class Battle-Barge, believed once to have been the Seraphina Carricus of the Sons of the Raven, is encountered transporting a Warp Ghosts raiding force off Mezoa XV, the withered face of Jo'sun Hernezu, the martyred Chapter's last Master, worn by its revenant captain. *'Devil's Claws (223.M39)' - The Brazen Claws entered the Peligron Cluster to besiege a renegade stronghold on Falax. They lost three squads from their 3rd Company and a Daemonic surge destroyed the mind of the Librarian leading the assault. Their complex strategy was in disarray but, due to the heroics of their Devastator Centurions, the Daemons were kept at bay. An evacuation was made possible only by the firepower of the Centurions. *'The Crusade of Steel (900.M41)' - Iron Father Kardan Stronos led the full might of the Iron Hands and Brazen Claws Chapters against the Necron dynasty of the Crimson King. Stronos refused to fall back in the face of a massive counter-attack, and alongside the Iron Hands' Garrsak Clan Company he somehow fought his way to strike the Crimson King a mortal blow that shattered the Necrons' command structure. *'The Folly of Heroes (955.M41)' - Despite direct orders to the contrary from the High Lords of Terra, the Brazen Claws launched a counterstrike they considered a Crusade of Vengeance into the Eye of Terror itself in response to the Forces of Chaos' assault upon their homeworld of Talus IV, leaving it in ruins. The Brazen Claws' last Astropathic transmissions indicated the Chapter was engaging a fleet of Iron Warriors vessels, but no other trace was heard of them for long solar decades. *'Broken but Unbowed (994.M41)' - Once thought destroyed in the Eye of Terror, the Brazen Claws resurfaced near Cadia, battered, but still fighting their long war against Chaos. It was their Chapter Master, Caul Engentre, who ordered the Chapter out of the Eye after a subjective twenty standard years of combat against the Traitor Legions. Engentre saw the toll that the Eye was taking upon his brothers, and decided to end their Crusade of Vengeance against the Forces of Chaos. To the Brazen Claws' surprise, though only twenty standard years passed for them in the Eye, almost forty had gone by in realspace. Such are the effects of the Warp. *'13th Black Crusade (999.M41)' - The Brazen Claws arrived too late to aid the defence of Cadia against the Forces of Chaos during the recent 13th Black Crusade. Instead they diverted to the defence of the other worlds of the Cadian Gate. *'Fall of Medusa V (999.M41)' - Some elements of the 2nd Company of the Brazen Claws led by Captain Erod took part in the campaign known as the Fall of Medusa V. They were involved in the coordination of Imperial forces in the southeastern zone of Armida. Chapter Organisation The Veteran 1st Company of the Brazen Claws was known as "the Dionekean Guard." Chapter Beliefs Like their predecessors, the Iron Hands, as loyal sons of the Gorgon, Ferrus Manus, the Brazen Claws are ultimately defined by their hatred of weakness of any kind. This is a hatred that extends to their own bodies, for they hold that all organic bodies, even those of a genetically-enhanced, transhuman Space Marine, are ultimately frail and subject to the weaknesses brought on by age and disease. Like their progenitors, the Brazen Claws are compulsively driven to replace their own biological flesh with cybernetic replacements, a practice that begins as soon as a Neophyte is initiated into the Chapter. Notable Brazen Claws *'Chapter Master Caul Engentre' - Caul Engentre is a hero of the Brazen Claws Chapter who has four centuries of experience in facing down the slavering darkness of the daemon, xenos, mutant and Heretic. Lord Engentre was present when the Brazen Claws' homeworld of Talus IV fell to the ravening hordes of Chaos. The Chapter Master had sworn a mighty oath of vengeance to pursue the Forces of Chaos into the very Eye of Terror itself. It had been uttered in the ashes of his Chapter's homeworld, the oath sworn amidst the fires of their burning fortress-monastery. After twenty standard years of prosecuting their ill-fated Crusade of Vengeance against the Traitor Legions within the Eye of Terror, the Chapter had suffered the loss of at least two companies. After twenty years of hubris, pride and death, Engentre called the entirety of his Chapter to council aboard his flagship, to discuss whether or not it would be prudent to continue prosecuting their Crusade. Out of ten companies, only four hundred Space Marines of the Brazen Claws were able to attend. Engentre stared out at the gathered Chapter, at the battered men left. There were gaps in squads, gaps in companies, once filled by men he had known and called brother. Even now, even standing at attention, they could not remain still. Their limbs danced, machinery grinding, clanking, ill-maintained. Their bodies beset by random flashes of neuronic misfire as the Eye of Terror's Chaotic energies slowly wore away at their minds. After much debate, and the sage wisdom of the Chapter's surviving Captains, Engentre told his Chapter that their Crusade was at an end. He then ordered his Chapter to prepare to depart the Eye for the realms of man. *'First Captain Macklen Eogh' - Captain of the Brazen Claws elite 1st Company. *'Second Captain Erod' - Captain of the Brazen Claws 2nd Company. During the twenty years of prosecuting their ill-fated Crusade against Chaos, the Brazen Claws had suffered terribly. After two decades, Erod told Seventh Captain Imbolkh he was done, for he had no wish to die in the benighted realms of the Eye. He had no wish to die fighting their Chapter's damned war, so Erod abandoned his brothers and returned to realspace. *'Third Captain Embrose Kalgach' - Captain of the Brazen Claws 3rd Company. *'Seventh Captain Julas Imbolkh' - Captain of the Brazen Claws 7th Company. Imbolkh once possessed fiery hair that had turned a premature grey, his face a mass of scars acquired during his time whilst fighting against the Forces of Chaos during his Chapter's Crusade of Vengeance within the Eye of Terror. *'Eight Captain Duro' - Former Captain of the Brazen Claws 8th Company. During the Brazen Claws' war of vengeance in the Eye of Terror, Duro and the 8th Company were thought lost when they followed after the 9th Company in their pursuit of a large Emperor's Children warband deep into the hellish realms of the Eye. Twenty years later, when Chapter Master Engentre called the entirety of the Chapter for council aboard his flagship, the lost 8th Company returned from the void, but they did not return unchanged, for they had been corrupted by the malign influence of Chaos. What occurred after the erstwhile company returned to their former brethren has not yet been recorded. *'Ninth Captain Hrtel' - Captain of the Brazen Claws 9th Company. Lost during the Chapter's war of vengeance in the Eye of Terror, when they pursued a large warband of Emperor's Children deep into the Realms of Chaos. They were presumed lost to the Warp. *'Captain Firlus Ghad' - One of the few surviving Captains of the Brazen Claws who took part in the ill-fated Crusade of Vengeance within the Eye of Terror. During his tenure within the Eye, he sustained horrific wounds to his throat, which required an augmetic replacement, leaving his voice awash with static. *'Techmarine Luveran Llir' - Techmarine Luveran Llir was assigned to the 8th Company of the Brazen Claws during their crusade into the Eye of Terror. While on board the Cold Roads, the flagship of the 8th Company, Llir tried to restore the Gellar Field in the chaos that raged throughout the ship. Despite his seemingly sane appearance, his mind was caught in the storm of the insanity produced by the Warp as well and he actually turned the Gellar Field off. *'Solvus Tabor' - Solvus Tabor was a Veteran of the elite Dionekean Guard, the Chapter's 1st Company. He protected Techmarine Llir, trusting that the Techmarine would restore the Gellar Field, only to fall with the rest of the company when Llir's perceptions were tainted by the Warp and he actually turned the starship's Gellar Field off. Chapter Fleet *''Cold Roads'' (Unknown Class) - The Cold Roads was the primary starship of the Brazen Claws' 8th Company. It was lost during their crusade into the Eye of Terror when the Techmarine Luveran Llir, influenced by the Warp, unwittingly turned off its Gellar Field. Chapter Relics *''Refuge in Defiance'' - Refuge in Defiance is a master-crafted Astartes Combat Shield. There are few implements of war that better meld offensive might with defensive protections than the deft guard of this combat shield. The unique resonance of the protective field steadies the sword-arm or firing grip of the wearer and guides it towards his enemies. The most learned Forge Masters believe that this particular shield's Machine Spirit can sense those who have struck blows against it and it manipulates this deadly link to enhance its user's combat abilities. Chapter Appearance ]] Chapter Colours The Chapter's Power Armour is painted in a quartered pattern of pelagic blue and clotted red. Blue squad specialty symbols on the right shoulder pauldron designate an Astartes' tactical specialty -- battleline, close support, fire support, Veteran or command. The white High Gothic numeral stenciled in the centre of the squad specialty marking indicates squad number. Veteran Marines of the Brazen Claws' elite 1st Company are designated by a white helmet. The colour of the Aquila or Imperialis on the chest guard indicates company number in accordance to the dictats of the Codex Astartes -- i.e. White (1st Company), Yellow (2nd Company), Red (3rd Company), Green (4th Company), etc. Chapter Badge The Brazen Claws' Chapter badge is a large red talon on a field of blue. Sources *''Adeptus Astartes: Successor Chapters'' (Limited Release Booklet), pg. 20 *''Codex: Space Marines'' (8th Edition) (Revised Codex), pg. 57 *''Codex: Space Marines'' (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pg. 143 *''Codex: Space Marines'' (6th Edition), pp. 8, 14, 16, 19, 57, 70-71, 147 *''Codex: Space Marines'' (3rd Edition), pg. 47 *''Codex: Eye of Terror'', pg. 16 *''Deathwatch - Honour the Chapter'' (RPG), pg. 132 *''Hammer and Bolter'' 3 (Anthology), "Phalanx" by Ben Counter *''Imperial Armour Volume Thirteen - War Machines of the Lost & The Damned'', pg. 22 *''Index Astartes Volume One'' (Digital Edition), "Index Astartes: Centurions - Famous Battles of the Centurions", pg. 65 *''Angels of Death: No Worse Sin'' (Short Story) by Joe Parrino *''Cold Roads'' (Short Story) by Joe Parrino *''The Voice of Mars'' (Novel) by David Guymer, pg. 28 es:Garras de Bronce Category:B Category:Imperium Category:Iron Hands Category:Space Marine Chapters Category:Space Marines Category:Second Founding